Music leaf turner



Sept. 10, 1946. c. w. Moss 2,407,572

MUSIC LEAF TURNER Filed June 8, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

' Cum/s W. Moss.

. armlwgx Sept 1m, 1946. c w oss 2 407 572 MUS IC LEAF TURNER Filed June8, 1945' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

Cum/s W. Moss.

MM- M ATTOPNEX Patented Sept. 10, 1946 UNlTED STATES PATENT QFFHCE.

4 Claims.

The leaf turner of my invention is of the kind that is to be actuated bya foot pedal from which a cable or other connecting means extend to therespective parts of the mechanism, adapted to turn sheets of music.

The purpose of my invention is to provide a light, compact device whichcan be easily applied to a conventional music stand.

Another object of my invention is to make my device simple inconstruction and economical to make, so that it can be turned out inquantity at a low cost.

I shall now describe my improvement with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a music stand with sheets of musicthereon, the view disclosing the location of my music leaf turner onsaid stand.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a bracket to be affixed to the music stand andadapted to support essential parts of my turner.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of said bracket.

Fig. 4 is a perspective: view, partly exploded for better illustration,of the mechanism of turner, with a View of a leaf holding clamp.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view, partly broken off, of the same mechanism,shown from a different angle.

6 is the bottom view of a holder which houses the mechanism of myturner.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged side elevation of elements forming a part of themechanism of my turner.

Fig. 8 is a top elevation of the same mechanism, the top plate of theholder being removed. or a better View.

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of a leaf clamp and means to support it.

Fig. 10 is an end elevation of the clam-13 and supporting means shown inFig. 9.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The position of my turner with respect to a music stand is shown in Fig.1 where the stand it supports a music sheet rack H and where my turningmechanism is identified by numeral l2. The mechanism is adapted to beactuated by a pedal device It, connected with mechanism l2 by means of acable enclosed in a sheath 13. The mechanism is contained in a holder!9, mounted on a bracket l5. Said bracket has: a flat shank it providedwith ears Hia, said shank being adapted to be fastened to a centralupright member 58 of rack I I. This is done by means of cross bands [1,said member 58 being sandwiched between the shank and the bands, whichare L,-

afiixed to ears 16a by screws IS.

The main part of the mechanism; of my leaf turner is contained in aholder I!) which includes a back wall 20 abutting the bracket 15, ahorizontal top 26 and a horizontal base 26a, spaced therefrom. Rotatablymounted on back wall 23 by means of a pin 22, is a segment of a crownwheel, which hereinafter shall be briefly referred to as a crown wheel.The crown wheel is provided at a point close to its outer periphery witha loop 23, the loop serving as a means of attachment to a flexible cable2-; passing downwardly through aperture in base The cable, enclosed bysheath I3, extends to a pedal device it, as mentioned above. Thisresponds to pressure applied by foot, transmitting a downward pull oncable fi l. Mounted on the above mentioned pin 22 is a spool 23. Aspring 2%, coiled thereon, is affixed at one end to the rim of the crownwheel 2!, while the other end 3!} bears against the upright surface ofbase 23a, to yieldingly resist the rotation of the wheel in response tothe pull of cable 2 The teeth of crown wheel 2;! are meshed with rungsof pinion 33, the shaft 3 of which is journalled in the top it of holderi9. The said top is omitted from views shown in 4, 5 and. 8, for clearerdisplay of parts of the mechanism disclosed therein.

The drum-like member 35 of pinion is provided with a pair of parallelarms 33, disposed radially with respect to said member. Pivotallysupported by the arms by means of a pin id, is a claw 3? extendingdownwardly and including at its upper end a lug 39. A coil spring 38,disposed betweeen the body of member 35 said lug, causes the lower endof the claw to bear inwardly towards the axis of the pinion. At thelower end, the pinion is journalled in an annular member G2 on top of aplate ll, to which said annular memher is integrally connected. Theplate has a outline of a cam of a spiral eccentric formation andincludes a radially disposed contact face 5 for engagement with claw3'5. The plate is capable of being rotated around its axis on thesurface of a similar cam-like plate 5i, provided with a radial contactface 52. This is best shown in Fig. 8.

A shaft t? extends from the center of the annular member $32, downwardlythrough plates i 1, 5i and base 25 of holder it. The shaft is disclosedin Figs. 5, 6 and '7. At its upper end, the shaft is held securelywithin said annular member i2 by means of a screw i l. At its lower endthe shaft supports a rod Mi, which extends radially from the shaft andsupports a leaf clamp ll.

The lower plate 5i includes an annular hub jcurnalied in base Elia ofholder as shown in Fig. 6, and supports another rod carrying at itsouter end another leaf clamp d'i. It must be pointed out that thecontact face in the rotary plate ti is somewhat more remote from theaxis of the plate than the similar contact face on the lower plate 5i.As a result of that, when claw 3'! bears against the contact face 45 inthe upper plate, it cannot reach the contact face of the lower plate. Inother words, when the bearing faces of the respective plates arealigned, that is, when they are substantially one above the other, theclaw will engage the [ace of the upper plate but not that of the lowerplate. However, when the upper plate had been swung around its axis bymeans of said claw and the claw had been returned to its originalposition, said claw, inclined inwardly at its lower end by means ofspring 38, will engage the contact face of the lower plate and thus wil1serve as a means to impart a rotary motion thereto.

As already pointed out, each rod, that is, rod 45 and supports a leafclamp 4'5, the latter being suspended from a conveyor 58, includingrollers d9 riding on the respective rod. The con-- veyor and the clampt? are loosely connected by a r ember fill. The clamp, which is normallydis, need in the plane of the conveyor, is capable of being turnedhorizontally at an angle to the plane of said conveyor.

I shall now describe the operation of my leai turner. Assuming that abook of music is placed on rack ll of stand it and is open for readingby a musician, and that one or two leaves will have to be turned in thecourse of said reading, a clamp on rod 453 is aflixed to one leaf andanother clamp on red 54 is affixed to another leaf, in order of pages.When it is desired to tic-e first page, the pedal device i is deeffectsa pull on cable 24, actuating the crown wheel 2i against the tension ofspring The pinion. 33 driven by the crown wheel is made to turn aroundits axis, whereby the claw mounted from arms on member 35 of said pinionengages the contact face of the upper cam plate, causing it to swingaround its axis to about 180 degrees from its original position. Asshaft 13 extending downwardly through base 26a of holder it, rotateswith said upper plate and as clamp 42, affixed to a leaf in the musicbook, is carried by a rod extending radially from said shaft, therotation of the plate serves to turn over leaf. This time the next leafmay be similarly turned by again depressing the pedal device 24. Eachtime when the claw has swung around the respective plate, it is made toreturn automatically by said coil spring 29, acting upon crow wheel 2!and by means thereof upon pinion 33.

If the operation of turning of said leaf is to be re eated, the leaveswith clamps attached to them may be turned back manually to theiroriginal position.

It will be seen that the turner does not have to be limited to twoleaves, but that it may be made to include three or larger number ofsuperimposed plates each having a contact face for a claw, but each ofsaid faces being in succession from top down a little closer to the axisof the pinion so that the claw will successively engage the respectivefaces one by one from top down, thus causing the rotation of rodscontrolling the respective leaves of a music book.

It will be understood that some changes may be made in the constructionof my leaf turner without deviating from the inventive principledisclosed herein.

What I. therefore, wish to claim is as follows:

1. A leaf turner of the kind described, comprising, a plurality ofrotary, cam-shaped plates,

aligned axially, each having a radial contact face but each succeedingface, from top down, being closer to the common axis of rotation thanthe preceding face, each plate being connected to a radially disposedrod supporting at it end a clamp for attachment to a leaf of a musicbook, a rotary member axially aligned above said plates but remaining ina fixed relation longitudinally to said axis of rotation, a downwardlyextending claw pivotally mounted in said member, said claw being adaptedto engage the contact face of each of the plates, successively from topdown, and gear means responsive to a pull of a cable to apply said clawto the respective contact face to swing the respective plate around itsaxis.

2. A leaf turner of the kind described, comprising a plurality ofcam-like plates disposed parallel to each other and adapted to rotateindividually around a common axis, each plate having a radially disposedcontact face, but each succeeding face from top down being closer tosaid common axis than the face of the plate above, an axially disposedpinion above the uppermost plate, arm extending radially from the baseof the pinion, a downwardly extending claw pivotally nted in said arm,spring means urging the lower end of the claw inwardly into engagementwith the face of the respective plate, successively from top down, toturn the respective plate around its axis to the extent approximating3.86 degrees, a rod affixed to each plate and extending therefrom in aplane spaced therefrom, a leaf clamp pivotaily suspended from the outerend of each rod, gear means to impart a rotary motion to the pinion andpull cable means to actuate said gear means.

3. A leaf turning device of the kind described comprising a plurality ofhorizontally disposed cam-like plates adapted to rotate around a commonaxis, each plate having on the marginal portion thereof a radiallydisposed contact face but each succeeding face, from top down, beingcloser to the common axis or rotation than the face above, a clawpivotally mounted above the top plate for rotation around said axis,spring means causing the claw to bear inwardly from its pivotedconnection towards said axis to engage successively each of the radialfaces to rotate the respective plate, a rod affixed to each plate andextending radially therefrom, means on each rod to be ailixed to a musicleaf, means to impart a rotary motion to said claw in one direction, andspring means to return the claw back to its initial position.

4. A music leaf turner including a casing, a vertical shaft journalledtherein, a rotary member mounted on the upper end of the shaft, a clawpivoted in said member and extending downwardly thereof, spring meansurging the claw towards the shaft, a plurality of cam-like platesmounted thereon. for rotation around said shaft, each of the plateshaving on its outer margin means for engagement with said claw, saidmeans being progressively closer to the shaft, with each plate followingthe top plate, downwardly cable means to cause the claw to rotate eachplate in succession, spring means to return the claw to its initialposition upon rotation of each plate and a rod extending from each plateradially, for connection with an individual music leaf.

CURTIS W. MOSS.

